Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling
From: hekunze@jeeves.uwaterloo.ca (Herb Kunze)
Subject: Wrestling TidBits - 04/15
Message-ID:
Sender: news@watdragon.uwaterloo.ca (USENET News System)
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1993 17:55:38 GMT
Lines: 89
{ There will be no TidBits next week; I will be in Montreal for the next
week. TidBits will resume the following week. Herb... }
- The current Observer poll on WrestleMania breaks down as follows:
Thumbs up 11.0%
Thumbs down 78.6%
In the middle 10.5%
Meltzer predicts it will have the lowest buy rate ever for a WrestlMania
PPV.
- Mr. (Curtis) Hughes debuted on the weekend WWF syndies. Jim Ross had
to pretend he'd never seen the guy before. He's wrestling with the
glasses on again (one wonders if the WWF will try to run the same
"glasses get broken" injury angle with him eventually).
- The Observer confirmed the "steel plate in the forearm" gimmick for
Lex Luger in the WWF. Meltzer reports that Luger had a plate put in
his arm legit after his motorcycle accident and is slated for surgery
to remove it at some point down the road. He expects Vince to work
an angle whereby the surgery becomes a requirement for Luger to stay
on in the WWF as a wrestler (I can hear Jack Tunney explaining his
ruling already and Heenan complaining that Brutus Beefcake should have
to have head surgery).
- Ric Flair had some interview comments in the local paper regarding WCW
finally coming to Toronto again. Flair said his toughest opponents
were Rick Steamboat, Harley Race and Sting. The quote goes "Steamboat
may not have been the toughest, but he certainly is a superb wrestler
with so many skills. I must have fought him around 200 times and he
always gave me a tough fight. He's always in such top physical
condition. Sting will develop into a great wrestler as he has finesse
and Race had to be the toughest man I ever fought." When asked about
Hulk Hogan, Flair said "I have tremendous respect for Hogan. Many view
him simply as a big man but Hogan has a good fundamental knowledge of
wrestling and manages to rise to the occasion. He is very good and
skillful and it's a pity that we two couldn't meet [in a title match]
to decide who is the best." The final comments had Flair say that
he left the WWF "simply because I was offered a better deal by Ted
Turner who has made a commitment to take WCW to the top. Look what
he has done with the Atlanta Braves."
- Mike Shaw, aka Norman, aka Makhan Singh, has "hit the big time" as
Friar Ferguson in the WWF. Can't wait for the feud with Typhoon.
I guess we'll see if the Friar can walk on water.
- WCW Slamboree takes place on PPV on 05/23/93. Advertised as the night
of the legends of wrestling, this is the PPV that will unveil WCW's
Hall of Fame. Slated to appear: Ivan Koloff, Verne Gagne, Greg Gagne,
Johnny Valentine, Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA, Mike Graham, Ole Anderson,
Moolah, Blackjack Mulligan, Wahoo McDaniel, Red Bastien, Mr. Wrestling II,
Dory Funk Jr., Don Muraco, Lou Thesz, Harley Race, John Tolos,
Dick Murdoch, Ox Baker, Jimmy Snuka, Jim Brunzell, Thunderbolt Patterson,
Da Crusher, Baron von Raschke, Tully Blanchard, Nick Bockwinkel,
The Sheik, The Assassin #1, Joe Blanchard.
There will be an old-timers match of some sort. There will also be
footage shown from the recent 26th annual Cauliflower Alley old-timers
banquet.
Flair has hinted in recent interviews that the Four Horsemen will
be re-formed. Hopefully, they don't just mean that that he, Arn, Ole,
and Tully will stand together for a photo-op at this PPV. Talk is that
the WCW office and Tully are trying to work out a deal.
Tentative (partial) line-up for Slamboree:
- Van Vader vs. Davey Boy Smith for the WCW Title
- Arn Anderon vs. Barry Windham for the NWA Title
- Pillman & Austin vs. Scorpio & Bagwell (for the tag titles?)
- WCW has a Clash of Champions scheduled for 06/15/93. Ric Flair will
supposedly step back in the ring on this show.
- WCW has this year's Beach Blast PPV on 07/11/93 from Gulfport, MS.
- E-mail TidBits: If your site has a slow feed or you don't read news
frequently enough and you want to get this posting as e-mail every week,
send me e-mail saying so.
- Videos: After some voting by people on the rspwtape mailing list,
as far as Japanese wrestling goes it looks like the most popular
years are 1981-1983, followed by 1984-1985. As a result, I have
sent around match lists for those time periods (actually 1980-1983
and 1984-1985) so that everybody can become acquainted with what
I have. If you are interested in being part of any match selection
process and you are not subscribed to rspwtape, do so now! Drop
me a line and I'll send you the match lists.
For info, send e-mail with a body consisting solely of the word
"help" to Majordomo@cc.gatech.edu. That id handles subscription
and unsubscription requests among other administrivia. The list
id is rspwtape@cc.gatech.edu. Mail sent to this id will be sent
to all current subscribers.
Herb...